Mooney/
Mooney Goes Wild

Mooney, Friday October 11th 2013

On Mooney Goes Wild, with Marty Morrissey

Eel populations across Europe have plummeted, and there is great concern for the survival of this iconic species. On Mooney Goes Wild, we hear how the ESB is helping on the Shannon, as part of its environmental sustainability drive.

The venomous "false widow spider" is cropping up around the UK. We ask, "what are the chances this spider could come to Ireland?"

And, the story of King Bruno, a remarkable chimpanzee from Sierra Leone, as documented by Irish BAFTA -winning filmmaker, Paul Glynn.

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False Widow Spiders

If you've seen the movie Arachnophobia, you'll know that there’s never any lack of people ready to queue up to give the poor old spider a bad press. But earlier this week the BBC reported that an amateur soccer player named Steve Harris has been sidelined indefinitely due to a bite from a false widow spider.

The Daily Mail added more grist to the mill describing how a healthy 31-year-old man collapsed after being bitten several times by this venomous arachnid – and if media reports in the UK are to be believed, the False Widow is on the march with an increase in the number of sightings - and more reports of people being bitten.

Not to be confused with the Black Widow Spider – its even more dangerous cousin – the False Widow has been resident in Ireland since 1997.

Arachnologist Myles Nolan is one of Ireland's leading spider experts - and he’s with Marty, Richard and Eanna in the studio today...

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Eels & ESB Sustainability Report

The ESB, or Electricity Supply Board, is Ireland's largest energy provider, generating energy from a variety of sources, and distributing it through ESB networks. But if we told you that the ESB had a division called "ESB Fisheries Conservation", would you be surprised?

We certainly were! ESB Fisheries Conservation actually employs several full-time staff around the country. And amongst their projects is something called the "Shannon Eel Management Programme". The aim of the programme is to help with the recovery of EU eel stocks, in line with a 2007 EU regulation.

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King Bruno, Chimpanzee

Since 2006 there has been a lot of debate among the citizens of Freetown in Sierra Leone as to whether a large and intelligent chimpanzee called Bruno has been spotted in the nearby hills.

Opinion varies wildly amongst locals as to what exactly became of the well known chimp. Some say he has been killed by the CIA. Others, that he was abducted for his sperm. There are many theories, but nothing concrete.

As a baby chimp, Bruno was orphaned by hunters. This is not an unusual story for the dwindling population of chimpanzees in Sierra Leone, where chimps have been sold for bush meat and their orphaned children sold as pets.

Bruno was lucky. In 1989 he was bought for 30 dollars, raised by humans and very much cherished – so much so that his owner built a chimpanzee sanctuary. But then, one day, tragedy struck. A large group of chimpanzees – led by Bruno - escaped from a sanctuary. In the process, a man was maimed and another man was killed.

Bruno he has never been found since.

Now when an Irish filmmaker from Dublin was visiting Freetown in 2006 he became fascinated with the story of Bruno. He returned to Sierra Leone several times to seek out those who think they spotted the chimpanzee, and he has even published a children’s book telling his story.

The filmmaker in question, Paul Glynn, joins us from the BBC Studios in London to tell us more about the legendary chimp...

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Hedgerows: It is an offence to 'cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy hedgerows on uncultivated land during the nesting season from 1 March to 31 August, subject to certain exceptions'. For more information, click here.